ChannelOnline 7.9.0 Release Notes

ChannelOnline 7.9, released Friday, May 22, focuses on continued CRM improvements for organizer notes and tasks, store site pages and banners, managing system tags, documents and reporting, plus new suppliers and user preference aids. For release training, click 7.9 Release Training.

Find out more about the latest features, changes, and fixes in ChannelOnline:

• Navigation
• Storesite
• Documents
• Organizer
• Items & Catalogs
• Personnel
• Integrations
• Supplier Updates
• Import/Export Updates
• Additional Improvements
• Bug Fixes

NAVIGATION

Adjustments have been made to organize the top navigation active icon tabs. They have been grouped together on the left side of the navigation row in the following order from left to right: Home (contains a list of your dashboards), Organizer (user view has been moved from its previous location by the Inbox), Account, and Document. The regular navigation tabs remain in their same order.

STORESITE

Some new additions have been made to help communicate with end customers when they use the store. Two customizable pages have been added – one for capturing Contact Us details and the other for providing FAQ and help information. Plus a welcome message has been added for users logging in to the store for the first time. All pages come with pre-populated text that can be modified to fit your needs. These new pages can be located and enabled by going to Store Admin, selecting your store to edit, navigating to the Pages or Messaging sub-tab, and selecting the corresponding section.

Contact Us

The new contact us page is made with a customizable intro text box, standard fields to capture, custom fields, and a comments section. If the user is logged in, their contact information will be pre-populated for them.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Store Admin > Store Support includes a preloaded FAQ section that can be activated on a per store basis. You may edit these sections, add your own to it, or create a whole new set of selections to suit your business needs. FAQs are managed in two places. First, go to the Store Support section in StoreSite Admin and then select the “Store FAQs” sub-tab. On the Store FAQs page, you can manage multiple FAQ lists made up of questions and responses that, once enabled, can be added to Stores. When you are in a specific store’s edit pages, go to the Pages sub-tab and open the FAQ section to enable the FAQ list that is appropriate for that store. All FAQs have the following characteristics:

• Editable HTML introduction text spot
• Preloaded FAQs (editable)
• Create / edit new one up to 25 entries
• Reorder topics (lines)
• Accordion style display page, needs to expand on topic select
• FAQs are searchable on the storesite

Messaging

Store Admin navigation has been adjusted to provide messaging with its own unique sub-tab, making it easier to find and edit important store communications. Within the Messaging section, we have added the New User Message (or welcome message) which, when enabled, will appear the first time a user visits the store. To create a New User Message lightbox, open the Marketing section, click Edit, and scroll down to the Enable Lightbox section above the New User Message Title field (note: this is different than the standard welcome message). This editable welcome message comes preloaded with three tips on using the storesite.

Cart
The Refresh Pricing on “Copy to Cart as New” and “Edit (Move to Cart)” has been split into two separate settings as indicated below:

• Refresh Pricing on “Copy to Cart as New”
• Refresh Pricing on “Edit (Move to Cart)”

For punchout users, we removed the top navigation checkout button to avoid possible confusion with available actions. Users can return to their ERP system (checkout) only when they go to the cart.

Stats Reports

Store reports (Reports > Storesite Stats) have been amended to include more data, subtotal options, and a larger reporting range. Changes to look for:

• Active / Inactive Status column option to the contacts reporting.
• Expanded storesite stats results beyond the one year range.
• Improved sub-total selections on contacts reporting.
• Includes the ability to save Activity reports. Helps to run regular reports or add to the dashboard.
• To quickly see which orders came through the storesite, the new “StoreSite” filter was added to the regular sales reports in the document status selection list.

Marketing Components

New marketing additions have been added in 7.9 for a wider range of promotional communication: Brand and Category focused banners. These new components operate in a similar manner as the preexisting spotlight banner on the store’s homepage, but there are differences.

• Brand Carousel: Focuses on highlighting key vendor partners or product lines that you sell. You can add up to 20 manufacturers with links and images to the banner carousel.
  • Select a manufacturer from the list of available manufacturers in that store’s default catalog. Rename title for banner, if desired.
  • Select to use a system category image, or add a custom image of your own.
  • Select to assign a link to the brand image; choose either our system generated search link or your own custom search destination.
• Category Carousel: Focuses on highlighting key categories or sub-categories that you sell. You can add up to 20 categories with links and images to the banner carousel.
  • Select a category from the list of available categories in that store’s default catalog. Rename title for banner, if desired.
  • Select to use a system category image or add a custom image of your own.
  • Select to assign a link to the category image; choose either our system generated search link or your own custom search destination.

Language Selection

To assist you in working with an increasingly diverse customer base, we have introduced a storesite language switch for your end customers to use. When the user switches the language, the site will refresh the navigation and any hardcoded text with the language selection of their choice. Customized store components will need to be updated within the StoreSite Admin separately.

• Both US and Canada can select from English, French, and/or Spanish.
  • In Canada, when French is selected, product data will also appear when available from the 1WorldSync database or supplier description.
• When enabled on a store (StoreSite Admin > Selected store for edit > General) the user’s language switch is located in top navigation for a store.
• We have resolved periodic occurrences where French language text displayed on What’s Included tab for products being displayed in English.

Misc Store Notes

• In the product settings there is now the ability to hide Logo Program links (like Microsoft Office 365) to products on stores.
• Enhanced Contemporary store theme to allow keyboard input on select menus to help quickly narrow results.
• Upgraded the change password function to require a user’s current password for setting up a new password.
• Altered the new customer registration form on the Contemporary theme to be wider (easier to use).

DOCUMENTS

• Expanded the use of document notes with the inclusion of a new Notes & Tasks sub-tab (see details below in the Organizer section).
• New workflow access rights to allow a quote to be created for a prospect but not converted to an order until the account becomes a customer. An option has been added to Company Settings > Documents > Quotes that disables the display of the Convert to Order button for all quotes associated with Prospects. Select this checkbox to activate: “Disable the ability to convert a quote to a sales order for all Prospect accounts. This will hide the Convert to Order button in the footer for all Prospects”.
• A new field was added to the sales order header to mark orders that have been produced that will need to be renewed. The “Renewal Date” field works with reporting on documents with any Sales Order status designation.
• Also in the header, the Salesrep dropdown list field will include only users that have access to that document, not all users.
• Behind the scenes, an enhanced Live Tax calculation has been added for rooftop accuracy on the Quote, Order, and Invoice documents. If an address falls inside an area that has exact location requirements (based on your tax profile settings), you might see a Live Taxes button next to the autogenerated tax amount in the totals section. The system has automatically calculated the correct rate for you, but there may be cases where the quote has been open long enough to need another update run.
• Implemented Purchase Order # capture on E-sign documents, when optional or required by account, in the signing options area when being accepted by the end customer. When accepted, the Purchase Order # will populate the Payment Options field on the converted Sales Order.
• Although electronic waste or recycling fees are automatically generated, the option has been included to manually set the fees to taxable at the line level on a document.
• When the bundle header is selected for moving to an invoice, it will automatically include all the bundle lines as selected for invoice creation. This removes the extra steps of having to select all the lines in the bundle.
• Like with quotes and orders, internal file attachments and external file links can be uploaded on Purchase Order documents.
• Introduced the Activity Log sub-tab to Purchase Orders. Activity will begin recording on any documents created after the release of 7.9.

Batch Update
We made a number of advances in the filtering selections and combinations so you can drill down to make the changes you need. Advances to look for:

• Support of document header global custom fields (not account level ones) for quotes, sales orders, and purchase orders. Custom dropdown and checkbox fields are now available in both filters and updates fields (not text or dates).
• Add status filter to document batch update for the selected document type.
• Added follow up date and follow up required update fields.
• Added Payment Type as a filter. Filter by locked/unlocked, marked for export/unmarked for export.
• Included Account Manager, SalesRep, and Buyer filters to Document batch update (Quotes, Orders, Invoices, Proposals).
• Can delete documents using batch update.

ORGANIZER (Notes and Tasks)

Advanced the overall usability of the Organizer for managing notes and tasks by directly integrating its features into the application. Now, instead of being opened in a separate window (and possibly pop-up blocked), you can get the benefits of using Notes and Tasks from the top navigation, on a document with a dedicated sub-tab, and on an account through a unique edit page. Here’s how you can access them.

User View

All of the notes and tasks that you have made or that have been delegated to you can be found by clicking on the active Organizer icon in the top navigation. If you hover over the icon, you can see the number of the most recent notes and tasks, and click straight to those results.

Integrated User View

On the User View page, you can see all of your organizer items in one list. Here are a few tips to remember about how to see the information:

• It defaults to the items modified in the last 90 days. You can update the date range and hit refresh to see more or less information.
• Add and remove columns by clicking on the menu icon on the far right top of the list table.
• Tags can be used to help filter based on a main theme like “Support” for a support task.
• Click on the left double arrow icon to expand the rows and see more details.
• Notes can be converted to tasks and reassigned to a different account (in case it was assigned incorrectly).
• They can all be tracked by a dashboard component (activate the component by editing your dashboard in My Preferences).

A few new adjustments:

• “Delegate to me” quick link on icon hover (as mentioned above).
• Added a “Visibility” column on user results page to see which notes are internally or externally visible.
• On edit of a note or task, the document number, account, and contact names are selectable links when available. These will take you to the linked location.
• To know if other users have been CC’d on tasks, add CC column on your results page (click on the menu icon at the far right of the results column header). Once the column is displayed, a number will be in the column to represent the number of CC’d users.
• Print multiple notes and tasks at one time from edit pages in all locations.

Accounts

With the inclusion of notes and tasks into the edit window for account types, there are a few ways you can now access them.

• Select the edit icon in the account view on the organizer or company module. The navigation dropdown in the upper right will show the option as the last page of account edit.
• To create or view contact specific notes and tasks, select the number or plus link in the contact widget in the account view, or select Edit Contact and navigate to the page.

In either case, don’t forget to save your note or task before closing the edit window.

Create Notes/Tasks overlay box (opens from the link in the active tab)

Documents

With the inclusion of notes and tasks into a dedicated sub-tab on documents, a user can always quickly access them. Classic ability to create them on the fly with the plus “+” icon in the header and active document icon still exist for pulling details from the document. This new sub-tab is available on all documents types.

With this inclusion comes the functionality to print all notes and tasks with a document if you added notes to your document and removed the internal designation. By design, if you add an additional note from the bottom of the document page, it will adopt the type of note you are adding.

• Click on the Add link next to Document Notes (Optional), and the note will be set as external.
• Click on the Add link next to Internal Document Notes (Not viewable by customer), and the Internal checkbox will be set.
• Don’t forget to check your print settings on the delivery page for which notes get displayed.

New document sub-tab

Document bottom add note options

ITEMS & CATALOGS

Some minor enhancements have been introduced for better management of item tags, item rules, and service/labor item reporting.

Tag management has added columns targeted to where the tags are being used: # of Product, # of Rules, # of Price Profiles, and # of Catalog Rules. Those with linked numbers will click through to the corresponding results for that tag.

Improved tag management columns

Under Items Admin > Item Rules, added columns that display when tags are being used in Catalogs and Price Profiles. These have numbers that will also click through to the results for that rule.

Improved Item Rule list columns

Other Catalog Changes

• Improved accuracy of supplier promotions filter for in-stock-only items.
• Corrected a condition where creating a new item rule and selecting manufacturers as the first filter was maxing out on manufacturer name results in the filter list.
• Added the “Save as Rule” button when the new 3-level categories are activated.

Service / Labor Item Reporting

Service oriented report options have been introduced to the renamed Item # sub-tab (formerly Mfr Part#) section in Reports > Sales > Item # reports. The key difference here is the addition of future date types, date range options to our Date dropdown, and additional document fields/columns. The objective is to allow users to run a report on items that are going to be expiring in the near future (not just dates in the past), save them, and even add to a dashboard.

Item Reports modifications:

• Update the tab name from “Mfr Part#” to “Item #”.
• Shifted “Status” selection for document type and status before the Date Type selection to accurately provide document specific options.
• In Date Type, “Service End (Expiration) Date” and “Service Reminder Date” are included in the dropdown selections.
• In Date range selection, at the bottom of the dropdown is: Next 7 days / Next 30 Days / Next 90 Days / Next 12 Months, Next Week / Next Month / Next Quarter / Next Year
• “From and To” will accommodate custom ranges with future dates.
• Service/Labor related columns selections for:
  • Item Type
  • Service Interval
  • Service Type
  • Billing Period
  • Recurring Amount
  • Labor Rate
  • Labor Period (Interval)
• Added Item type to the “Subtotal By” drop downs

Document (SalsRep) section modifications:

• Shifted “Status” selection for document type and status before the Date Type selection to accurately provide document specific options.
• Introduced the Renewal Date selection to reflect the new renewal date field on the sales order header. This is to be used in conjunction with the future date ranges added to the Date dropdown.
• Orders from StoreSite. To help find which orders came through the storesite, the Orders (StoreSite) filter was incorporated into the Status options for Orders.

Reminder, all summary reports can be saved and added as a component to any personal dashboards.

PERSONNEL

Access Rights

To accommodate changes to user workflows for mid and large MSPs, we have separated Create from Edit in access rights for Accounts in (Admin > Personnel > Access Rights > edit, Accounts section). This will allow a Sales Rep to create a prospect, then Accounting can convert it to a customer once approved, and afterwards a different Sales Rep can edit the account as needed. By default, both will be checked if they had previously been selected.

• Create Lead & Prospect Accounts
• Edit Lead & Prospect Accounts
• Create Customer Accounts
• Edit Customer Accounts
• Create Vendor, Partner and Other Accounts
• Edit Vendor, Partner and Other Accounts

NOTE: Groups has an updated look but contains all its original functionality.

User Preferences

Some nice to haves for power users:

• Set default Document tab search results from active user to Modified By All (system default is logged in user)
• Set default Purchasing tab search results from active user to Modified By All (system default is logged in user)
• Set default sub-tab view with clicking the Accounts Tab to (Current Account / All Accounts / Companies / Contacts / Recent Accounts)
• Set Account Activity Component default date range on Account View (Last 30 / Last 90 / This Month / This Quarter / This Year)
• Select a primary language for each market you have access to (English / French / Spanish). Ex: For Canadian accounts, this will show product specifications in French when available.
• Default language selections will be used for navigation and product specifications when building quote or cart documents (document templates themselves will be translated in a preceding release).

Saved Reports – IMPORTANT

If you have saved reports, you may need to open the reports and re-save them to have the dates updated to synchronize with your company’s selected time zone.

INTEGRATIONS

Autotask

Action Required: Autotask API authentication change. In the coming months, Autotask will change to PREVENT any API access other than with API User accounts. Please take action now to ensure your integrations keep working properly and securely. Contact Autotask (Datto) to be issued an API User account at no charge.

Updates:

• Ability to specify custom opportunity name in ChannelOnline for Autotask doc; there will be both an input field and a search button.
• Map and export Shipping Cost from an order into an Autotask custom field.
• Select contacts to be imported from Autotask if you don’t want all the contacts in ChannelOnline. When importing an account from Autotask, uncheck the ‘Import all Contacts’ checkbox. After the account info has been imported, you will be able to import contacts using the ‘Import/Map Contacts from Autotask’ button on the account view.

ConnectWise

A few updates:

• Incorporated the use of an opportunity selector. Use a document custom field to search for ConnectWise Opportunity # instead of Opportunity Name. Select the search button near the ‘ConnectWise Opportunity #’ field. Click it, and choose the opportunity you just created. Allows for multiple COL quotes to be on the same ConnectWise opportunity.
• Select individual contacts to be imported from ConnectWise if you don’t want all those contacts in ChannelOnline. When importing an account from ConnectWise, uncheck the ‘Import all Contacts’ checkbox. After the account info has been imported, you will be able to import contacts using the ”Import/Map all Contacts from ConnectWise’ button on the account view.
• Resolved an issue where new account export to ConnectWise would fail if using the 2019.1 API.

Salesforce

Updates:

• When manually importing individual accounts from SF, you can choose to not import all contacts but select individual contacts after the main import. On import, Uncheck “Import all contacts”, and then on the account view page, select the link Import/Map Contacts from Salesforce.
• Account/Contact mapping in Salesforce integration settings.
• Map Serial Number data to Salesforce Order: Under Document Fields mapping, there is new Serial Number field that can be mapped to the Salesforce custom field for serial number.
• Made it so that deleting an account in ChannelOnline sets it as deactivated or deleted in Salesforce.
• Selected supplier information at the line item can now be sent to Salesforce. We have included the following ChannelOnline supported fields under “Map Fields within ChannelOnline to Salesforce Custom Fields” settings section: Selected Supplier, Selected Supplier Cost, and Selected Supplier PO#.
• Allow document global custom dropdown fields to be mapped to dropdown custom fields in Salesforce.
• Large bulk exports are now including all contacts.

Taxation
We updated the tax calculation service to provide backend realtime rooftop rate checking and address validation on billing and shipping pages in checkout and convert to order (mentioned in Document section above).

CyberSource

Added fourth option to the setup settings which will “Authorize and Create Profile” for tokenization.

SUPPLIER UPDATES

Creative Business Solutions (NEW)
Basic file support for pricing and availability.

Creative Business Solutions is the largest stocking HPE Renew Distributor in the USA. They have been providing authorized HPE re-sellers nationwide for almost two decades with Servers, Storage and Networking (Aruba) products. Additionally, stocked inventory consists of memory, drives, power supplies and other ISS options. CBS provides resellers the ability to have pre-sales technicians and Solutions Architects assist with custom server builds. These builds are tested at no extra cost. Servers arrive turnkey ready! To learn how to become a partner, call 888-889-8940 or email Renew@creativebusinesssolutions.com.

Stampede Global (NEW)
Basic file support for pricing and availability.

Stampede Global is world renowned for providing industry-leading AV and IT system solutions for dealers in every major vertical market. Stampede Presentation Products Inc. is the oldest and largest provider of ProAV solutions. Since 1998, Stampede has turned conventional wisdom on its head, pioneering the commercialization of innovative new technologies, platforms, products, and services that make the systems you design and install for your customers that much more effective for them — and profitable for you. To learn how to become a partner, please contact Mike Bagan via email: mbagan@stampedeglobal.com.

BlackBox

Based on changes to their reseller channel program, we have discontinued support for real-time price & availability and electronic ordering.

Custom Suppliers

New deletion option. When that supplier is no longer an available option for the business, it can be deleted and sent to the recycle bin. If for any reason you need to recall it, just go to the recycle bin and restore it. Supplier contacts can be deleted and restored also. (Note: supported suppliers may not be deleted.)

IMPORT/EXPORT/XML UPDATES

XML / cXML / Punchout

There are some minor xml schema updates for 7.9. The link to the 7.9 schema after launch is https://xml.channelonline.com/schema/7.9/schema.zip. XML users can take advantage of the following changes:

• Ability to update invoice numbers using update_entity_request
• Can update an account’s Tax Exempt information (taxExemptId) via update entity transaction.
• Improved the triggers that update Last Modified when updating accounts through the API. Resolved issues with both COL and the API picking up changes to Customer information. Account View, Account Activity Log, and XML are all showing different data for “last modified time” and “modified by”.
• Updated backend code to transfer documents when accountManager is changed.
• Included integration item type and ledger code fields to show up for bundles as configs just for individual items.
• Electronic waste or recycling fees (AKA Ewaste fees) are now available in cXML punchout transmissions and the line level.
• Line item notes are now available on cXML Punchout transmissions and the line level.

NOTE: If you need any assistance with the above changes, please contact support.

Import/Export Wizard

• Custom Items Import: Set MSRP for any Supported product
• Added tracking numbers to the document export
• Account Import / Export:
  • Customer import- a boolean column was established for contact checkboxes to support:
    • StoreSite activation.
    • Enable ALL documents on the StoreSite to be viewed by this contact.
    • Enable Bill-To and Ship-To address on StoreSite to be edited by this contact.
    • Account Export can now also include 3rd party integration IDs.

ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS

• Activity log tracking has been added to Leads. Lead activity is now tracked and available to be accessed on the newly added Activity widget for leads on the account view.
• Updated top level PO search field to use autocomplete functionality for faster search results.
• Removed “GreatAmerica” and “Ingram” from the leasing name displayed to the end customer on the store. Provides a generic leasing option to the end user contact.
• Improved Send Email recipient entry. After you click the To field, you have to completely click your mouse off the box somewhere else to get out of the screen.
• Backend security updates and modifications.

BUG FIXES

• Addressed an issue where users without edit rights but with view access through their group setting were able to still edit accounts.
• Instances where a javascript error occurred on Price Tiers when editing a category line rule was resolved.
• Adjusted CPAS approval hierarchy amounts for using approval limit numbers greater than 1,000 so it no longer throws an error on valid limits.
• Condition was removed that allowed deleted user’s initials to show on account view of the last account the user was viewing. If a user is deleted, those initials are no longer displayed.
• When you create/edit a company, the order processing default value “none” shouldn’t be an option that’s available. Manual should be the only option.
• Corrected calculation display issue where the Bundle List price total showed N/A because one of the items has a 0.00 list price.
• Document modified date should not change upon simply viewing a document. Only when changes are made should it alter the modified date.
• Billing / Shipping missing the Address Code from the address page on convert to order.
• Corrected situation that caused duplicate tracking numbers to be seen in some document views when they were associated with serial numbers.
• Problem was resolved with editable orders on the storesite without the user moving the quote into an active cart. In some cases an internal user would convert the quote into a sales order and the document would remain editable to the storesite user.
• Resolved Tech Data purchase order status update failing instances when multiple lines on the PO have the same Tech Data SKU number (example: the same SKU was on both line one and line two of the PO).
• Shopping Engine Export will no longer hang while exporting greater than 80,000 items.
• Shopping Engine Export customer price would be different than on ChannelOnline. Issue occurred when choosing a storesite (public) with a default price profile contained an “Attribute/Tag” rules.
• Product Type was not constant on custom item import. Mapping error happened during import when a static value for a column was selected. Now that value is imported without having that column in the file.
• Resolved a condition where values would disappear when saving a service or labor item, but the item was still created.
• Solved a situation where lease options were missing from document and document delivery (Send) preview.
• CALL issue on bundle items. Fixed problem where products have no price and are part of a bundle and should be using the bundle price on the stores, not showing CALL for that item.
• Data issue for some customers causing custom manufacturers to not appear listed in report section box was remedied.
• Correct sorting of Global custom fields and Account custom fields in the document header to flow in the proper order sequence; global custom fields first, then account custom fields from left to the right and down.
• Sent the Hide Logo button on the document header to be positioned below the image and not floating on the top of the image.
• When importing new contacts into existing account, they were not getting Enabled even though the column for enabled was set to true.
• Shipping is calculated as items are adjusted and not only after saving a document.
• Contract pricing was not being set as the default price when assigned to the price profile; the price profile rule was still being applied. This has been corrected to set the contract price in place.